Art of expanding sheet metal.



PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

H. E. WHITE. ART OF EXPANDING SHEET METAL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1 rs arana orrion HERBERT EUGENE WHITE, OFYOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, ASSTGNOR TO THE GENERAL FIREPROOFING COMPANY, OFYOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A

CORPORATION or orno.

AT OF EXPANDENG SHEET METAL Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. May 29, 1906. 7

Application filed June 10,1905. Serial No. 264,596.

town, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art-of Expanding Sheet Metal, of which the following is a specificationaccompanied by drawings.

The invention relates particularly to socalled expanded metal for lathsand other uses of the well-known type as exemplified in Figure 1 of theaccompanying drawings, wherein a reticulated or mesh-like structure isformed from a plate of sheet metal.

Briefly stated, my resent way of treating the metal consists in stcrimping, corrugating, or otherwise shortening the sheet so as toprovide substantially for the formation of the meshes, as hereinafterexplained, and then after such preliminary step to simultaneously cutand expand or open one row of halfmeshes or part meshes after another ina single straight line along the sheet.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates one form of thefinished sheet. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3illustrates a sheet after the preliminary crimping, corrugating, orshortening and just after the first row of strands has been cut andformed into part meshes. Fi 4 is a View of the same after three rows 0strands have been out and formed. Fi s. Sand 6 illustrate the process asperformed by articular tools, one being a view edgewise o the metal andlengthwise of its corrugations and the other a view at right anglesthereto.

The best may of shortening the metal to afford the slack or marginrequisite to the simultaneous cutting and expanding without materialstretch is by corrugating the metal regularly in a direction at ri htangles to the slits that are to be formed. referably, also, thecorrugations should be spaced to correspond one with each row of jointswhere the adjacent rows of strands are united. This 1 be clear from Fig.4, wherein the hollows of four corrugations are shown corresponding withthe four joints or points of union a b c d. The degree of corrugationshould be calculated so that the original length of the sheet beforecorrugation shall correspond with the final length of one strand asmeasured along its curvesas, for example, from a to c in Fig. 4. Thedegree of corrugation 0r crimping is therefore dependent on the degreewhich it isdesired to open the slits to form the meshes. When this isdone, the corruated or shortened sheet will correspond in ength asmeasured across the corrugations with the final length of the expandedsheet as measured in a similar direction as between a and c,Fig. 4. Whensuch a sheet is slitted, one row after another can be opened out byhand, because there is no necessary stretching of the metal, or by theuse of a chisel or other suitable hand-tool one slit after another inthe same straight line may be out and opened out, as in Fig. 3, withoutstretching. A tool having a row of cutters, as shown in the upperportions of Figs. 5 and 6, may be employed in connection with a lowercutter which has a corrugated or crimped surface to adequately supportthe sheet of metal and to cooperate with the row of cutters, as plainlyshown in Figs. 5 and 6. Such a row of cutters a after making the firstrow of cuts, as seen in Fig. 6, and of any desired width determined bythe position of the metal on the lower cutter I may then be employed ina precisely similar way in making a second row of cuts and meshesalternate with the first row, the intervals between the cuts in each rowdetermining the uncut point of union or joints, as at 1) ad in Fig. 4,between adjacent strands. The advancing of the metal to the right inFig. 6 after each cut will of course determine the width of the strandthat is to be out and formed. In this way I have found it is possible tomake expanded metal with a width of strand that is even less than thethickness of the metal, and I have ap lied the process successfully toother materlals than metal for the purpose of demonstrating whether themeta was subjected to any severe stretching or injurious strains. Thus Ihave been able to use my method on blotting-paper and other materials ofexceedingly-weak tensile strength and substantially no ductility. Theprocess is not, therefore, limited in use with metal and othermaterials, such as sheet-celluloid and the like, may be treated in thesame way asthe full equivalents of metal in this process.

The process is entirely capable of being carried out by machinery, andmachines such as set forth in my copending application,

'ered joints or connections between the rows of strands so formed, forsubstantially the purposes set forth.

2. In the art of making expanded metal and the like, the iIYi rovementthat consists in first corrugating t e sheet to shorten it and affordprovision for the expansion or opening without substantial stretching,and then slit ting transversely to the said corrugations and pressingand forming the strands away from the general plane of the corrugatedsheet.

thereby straightening out the corrugations to form a row of meshes orpart meshes and then successively slitting and forming other rows inlike manner leaving uncut connections between the strands of adjacentrows, substantially as described.

3. In the art of making expanded metal and the like, the improvementthat consists in first crim ing or corrugating the sheet in a manner tos orten it in the direction of the slits to be formed and thensimultaneously slitting and bending portions of the sheet in such manneras to substantially straighten out the corrugations in the strands soformed while leaving such strands connected to the body of the sheetbetween such slits, and then simultaneously slitting and bending in likemanner in places alternate to the firstmentioned portions, thusproducing the finished expanded sheet metal of substantially the samelength as the corrugated or shortened sheet, substantially asdescribed.

4. The improvement in the art of making expanded metal and the like,that consists in first corrugating, crimping; or shortening the sheet inthe direction of the slits to be formed, and then simultaneouslyslitting and opening portions of the sheet thereby straightening out thecorrugations to form meshes or part meshes. n

5. The improvement in the art of making expanded metal and the like,that consists in first corrugating, crimping, or shortening the sheet inthe direction of the slits to be formed, and then slitting and ex andingportions of the metal thereby straig tening out the corrugations to forman open or reticulated exanded structure without substantial stretchmgof the metal itself.

6. The method substantially as herein described of making expanded orreticulated metalwork, which consists in simultaneously slitting andbending portions of a sheet of metal without stretching or elongatingthe strands connecting the slit'portions and body of the sheet, and thensimilarly slitting and bending in places alternate to thefirst-mentioned portions, thus roducing the finished expanded sheet metaof the same length as the original sheet.

7. The method substantially as herein described of making expanded orreticulated metal-work, which consists in simultaneously slitting andbending portions of a corrugated sheet of metal without stretching orelongating the strands connecting the slit portions and body of thesheet, and then slmilarly slitting and-bending in places alternate tothe first-mentioned ortions, thus producing the finished expand ed sheetmetal of the same length as the original sheet.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscrib- 1ng witnesses. I

HERBERT EUGENE WHITE.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM A. KINesLEY, ORSON D. KAISER.

